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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701942">Exile</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imaginos_Buzzardo_Desdinova/pseuds/Imaginos_Buzzardo_Desdinova'>Imaginos_Buzzardo_Desdinova</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Imaginos - Fandom, Max Headroom - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Post-Apocalypse, shape-shifting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 04:02:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,738</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701942</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imaginos_Buzzardo_Desdinova/pseuds/Imaginos_Buzzardo_Desdinova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>exiled from Network 23, Bryce Lynch meets the shape-shifting Imaginos</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Imaginos/OC</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Exile</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Max Headroom/Imaginos</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In Exile</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the two weeks since his exile from Network 23, Bryce Lynch had done what he could to find a place to live.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Since he was declared persona non grata by the network, not a single soul would talk to him. It was hard on the boy, who despite being a genius when it came to computers and technology was an innocent when it came to life in general.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had spent his teens up until his seventeenth birthday in the tower that was Network 23, hidden away on the thirteenth floor. Before that, he had spent every day from ten to twelve in the halls of the Academy of Computer Sciences, never even visiting his parents, who it must be said never came to see him, either.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unhappy, but determined not to show it or indeed let it overtake him, he continued his search for a home, albeit an increasingly futile one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even the Blanks would have nothing to do with him. He was truly alone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*****</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Watching the boy with interest, a cloaked figure followed unseen as his quarry sought the shelter of a deep doorway while the rain came down in sheets of cold water. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He himself did not mind the rain. He’d dealt with worse while on the deck of an ancient sailing ship long ago. So being pelted with rain and hail, while painful in the latter case, did little more than annoy him onshore.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But this boy, who was no older than he had been when he’d first been a ship’s mate, was shivering and clearly not used to the weather. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*****</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bryce huddled in the doorway. The tiny alcove was cold, narrow, and it offered inadequate shelter from the rain which had no problem leaving him drenched in a manner of minutes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked up and saw a figure in a cloak. Their hood was up, and the cloak fitted in such a way that he could not determine if they were a man or a woman. He noticed that they seemed to be watching him. Probably sent by the Network to make sure he didn’t talk to anyone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The figure approached him, causing him to freeze where he was. What did he want? Was he going to arrest him?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t want to risk it, so he slipped into the door and hoped he wouldn’t be thrown out of the restaurant.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a simple fast food restaurant. The menu was push-to-order so he didn’t have to speak to get food. That was useful in his current circumstances.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The robot that approached with the tray set it down on the table and wheeled off wordlessly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Crunch fries, a burger, and a Zak Cola sat on the tray looking tasty but sad. He barely remembered his childhood when a meal consisted of freshly cooked meat with vegetables and a starch filling the plate. Now the healthiest thing on his plate were the fries, tasty and crisp. Though there was always too much salt on them. He ate them slowly, partly because of the saltiness, and partly to try and stay indoors until the rain passed. Thinking on it, he realized that fast food was so popular, not only because Zik Zak was the largest corporation in the world, but also because it didn’t take people away from their televisions to make it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The figure who’d been watching him walked in and sat down at his table.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t want to sit there,” a metrocop warned. “That one is persona non grata.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why?” a male voice. Well, at least that question was answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Network 23 declared him so,” the metrocop explained. “You associate with him, you’ll join him in exile.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Very well,” the unseen man declared. “Then I shall join him. At least he won’t be alone. Will you join me, young man?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bryce looked up at him. “What is your name?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man smiled as he revealed his young face which was surrounded by flowing grey hair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Imaginos.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*****</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We are going to need real food.” Imaginos dumped the remains of the burger meal in the trash container with a look of distaste as they exited the Zik Zak franchise restaurant, his cloak wrapped tightly around him again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How are we going to find it?” Bryce asked, shivering as the rain resumed the business of soaking him to the bone. He put his hands in his pants pockets, wishing he’d taken a coat with him at the time of his exile. “We have no way of buying anything other than robot-delivered fast food.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll have to send Buzzardo,” Imaginos told him as he took off his cloak and placed it over Bryce’s shoulders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who is Buzzardo?” Bryce asked. He didn’t want this Buzzardo to suffer the same fate that first he and now Imaginos were suffering. Exile was not easy, especially in the cold rain and with little to no cash or creds left. He reached to give back the cloak, but Imaginos put his hand up to stop him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I won’t need it for a bit,” Imaginos explained as turned away and transformed into a dark black vulture. Shaking his wings out, he turned to face Bryce, who had gone white as a sheet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bryce’s jaw dropped and he spent several minutes impersonating a landed trout.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s… that’s not logical,” Bryce whispered in awe as soon as he managed to remember how his mouth worked.  “A man should not be able to become a bird.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The bird in question flew over the Fringes, scenting for the smell of food. His dark eyes took in the little stalls where skinned rats and the occasional reptile were hanging from smoking and frying racks. As a human the scent of rats was not the most pleasant, but as a bird, he was not fond of the idea of them being cooked. He doubted Bryce would appreciate rat in any case. Buzzardo flew onward, over the darkened and polluted ground, the scent of burning trash soon overpowering the aroma of freshly cooked rat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bryce watched as the bird screeched and flew overhead, encouraging him to follow as they sought a healthy meal in an unhealthy world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*****</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Bryce huddled in another door frame trying to make sense of the day’s strange events, Buzzardo pecked at the remains of a rat he’d managed to steal before it was cooked. He pulled the skin and fur from the bones of the animal, which was only half-skinned at the moment he’d stolen it, and tossed it aside before feasting upon what was left. Then, his hunger satisfied for the moment, he groomed his feathers, grateful that the rain had stopped and that the boy he was watching over was no longer in danger of dying from the elements or getting hit by lightning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*****</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A cry from overhead drew Buzzardo’s attention. He looked up and saw a female vulture flying overhead. Watching, he longed to be in flight with her, but there was no way he could couple with her. Not when he would have to leave her to take care of this human child who though sixteen was clearly not worldly wise, despite his clear genius in some aspects, mainly technology as he found when the boy had repaired a couple street-side tellies during their search for food.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He cried out to her in regret, then hopped-strutted back to the door frame and stood protectively by Bryce, knowing this form would be more threatening to any enemies that Bryce might have acquired during his exile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The female vulture landed and strutted in front of him, trying to get his attention. Finally, Buzzardo realized that there was nothing for it. He transformed back into Imaginos, hoping this would dishearten her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To his utter amazement, she, too, transfigured into human form, her black and white wings narrowed into pale arms, her talons turning to slender fingers with dark fingernails. Her beak shrank and spread into a slender pouting mouth. Her feathers moulted as she stood erect, her body naked and shivering. Soon, only the feathers at her bikini spot and her head remained, as if taking the place of the hair that would normally be at those places. She looked at him with a smile while Bryce decided that this was too much of a coincidence and decided that the best way to deal with the situation was to simply pass out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Illogical,” was the last thing he managed to say before the world swam around him and he slumped over in the doorway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*****</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What is your name?” Imaginos asked the woman as he removed the cloak from Bryce, who at least had clothes on underneath it and moved to cover her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bryce grumbled in protest in his semi-conscious state, but was too busy trying to reevaluate the world around him. People who turned into birds… What was this world coming to? Scientifically it made no sense. How could a man of at least a hundred and twenty pounds turn into a bird that weighed at most four pounds? What happened to the rest of that weight? If it was somehow compressed, then surely it would make flight impossible. And he’d seen that bird, and its female counterpart fly without any problem. And who was this woman with no mode of speech who had just herself been a vulture moments earlier? It was too much of a coincidence for his logical and analytical mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The woman in question flinched away from Imaginos</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going to hurt you,” Imaginos promised. “I just don’t want you to catch cold.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The woman stared at him in bewilderment, but let him wrap the cloak around her. She couldn’t understand him. What were these strange sounds he was making? And why did he and she herself suddenly look so different from the birds they had been? And where were her beautiful black, grey, and white feathers? She examined herself, disgusted at how she looked like she had been mostly plucked, and accepted the covering. At least it would hide how ugly she was sure she now was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong with her?” Bryce managed to ask, once his mind had reluctantly decided that logic had jumped out the window and he might as well just accept it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Imaginos looked at the woman who was watching the sky with a hunter’s eye.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think she’s ever been human before,” Imaginos told him.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
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